Southport killer Axel Rudakubana will not be named in the upcoming public probe into last summer's triple murders, the inquiry's chairman has revealed.

Rudakubana, 18, will instead be referred to in the report as the "perpetrator" or "AR".

In his opening statement on Tuesday, inquiry chairman Sir Adrian Fulford claimed that Rudakubana’s name should not be used for reasons of sensitivity.

Fulford said: “For the benefit of the victims and their families, for whom this is an issue of significant and wholly understandable sensitivity, his name should not be used again during this inquiry.

“He will simply be referred to as ‘the perpetrator’ or ‘AR’.”

The ex-Court of Appeal judge added: “However hard we try, ordinary language simply fails to reflect the enormity of what he did on July 29 last year.

"None of the most powerful adjectives even begin to suffice: there are no words that adequately describe what occurred and I am not going to try (and then fail) to find them.”

The Liverpool Town Hall inquiry will focus on whether the attack could have been prevented and whether adequate measures are in place to tackle teenagers “who are drawn into extreme violence without a commitment to a particular religious or political cause”.

Chair Sir Adrian Fulford arrives with secretary to the inquiry Kate Anderson at Liverpool Town Hall

The probe has been launched just months after Rudakubana was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 52 years in January.

Rudakubana carried out his horrific attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on July 29 last year.

Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were tragically killed in the stabbing spree.

Rudakubana also attempted to murder eight other children, class instructor Leanne Lucas and local businessman John Hayes.

Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice da Silva Aguiar and Bebe King were murdered by RudakubanaPA

The community has come together to lay flowers outside Southport's town hall as a memorialPA

Chair Sir Adrian Fulford sitting inside the hearing room at Liverpool Town Hall